The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) placed a lifetime capitation of five years on welfare benefits. This Bill consolidated welfare and employment programs into the block grant known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The benefit package allows operation of programs in accordance with…

State governments wield significant authority in the management of public schools. As a nexus for federal funding, state funding, and regulatory authority, states have both the legal and financial power to help drive school change. The "No Child Left Behind Act" has required each state to create a system of standards-based assessment and…

Amid a recession that's squeezing state budgets and pushing more families into poverty, teams of officials from 39 states gathered near Washington last week to explore ways to better meet the educational and health needs of young children. The Sept. 16-18 meeting, sponsored by the National Governors Association, came as the U.S. House of…

State child care policies--including licensing, subsidy, and quality enhancement strategies--can promote the quality and continuity of early childhood experiences and foster the healthy growth and development of babies and toddlers in child care settings, especially if they are informed by research. One of the policy levers states may use to…

Tribal Child Care and Development Fund administrators work each day to ensure that the children and families in tribal communities have the child care services that best meet their needs. The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), a federal block grant for States, Tribes, and Territories, is a key resource to help increase the availability,…

Leaders of programs serving rural America need to act strategically to ensure the long-term success of their initiatives. This strategy brief describes the funding landscape of rural programs and highlights the unique challenges confronting rural program leaders. It describes the different public and private resources that can support…

This publication is part of a series of tools and resources on financing and sustaining youth programming. These tools and resources are intended to help policymakers, program developers, and community leaders develop innovative strategies for implementing, financing, and sustaining effective programs and policies. This guide outlines strategies…

The paper reviews the Reagan administration's efforts to convert human services financing to a block grant approach and describes the response of the United Cerebral Palsy Association (UCPA). The Budget Reconciliation Act and its impact on funding for such services as developmental disabilities, vocational rehabilitation, and Title XX Social…

Findings from four studies reveal that: administrators enjoy the deregulation of Chapter 2 but are concerned about audits and evaluation; a wide variety of fund distribution formulas exists; expenditures were heavy for computers; and private school participation has increased. (MLF)

In its analysis of the impact of the proposed Presidential budget for fiscal year l984 on the future well-being of black children and families, this report recommends that social programs assisting these families in harsh economic times be improved rather than reduced. Specifically, the social programs or service areas discussed include Child…

This publication is the edited transcript of a four-hour roundtable discussion of the impact of federal block grants. Participating in the discussion were representatives of four organizations conducting major research on five federal block grant programs--the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, the Brookings Institution, the…

Describes the objectives and activities of the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights (OCR) within the purview of the Reagan administration's civil rights policy. Describes OCR methodologies designed to ensure enforcement of nondiscrimination requirements in state implementation of programs under federal block grants. (MJL)

Discusses the role of the national values of efficiency, choice, and equity in the adoption and implementation of the federal education block grant program and the negative effects on school desegregation. Urges policymakers to consider policy goals, and not just policy instruments, when considering future proposals. (FMW)

This hearing transcript presents testimony on the effects of placing federal nutrition programs in state block grants as required by the Personal Responsibility Act, the welfare bill contained in the "Contract with America." Witnesses testified that federal food programs such as Women Infants and Children (WIC), the Senior Nutrition…

This fact sheet examines the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program established by the U.S. Congress in 1990 to support families by increasing the availability, affordability, and quality of child care. It outlines the program's funding level, eligible grantees of CCDBG funds, regulatory requirements, family eligibility, and…